Sabres on the Warpath

Sabres on the Warpath

If you've stumbled across this page, chances are you clicked on a link to it via another Buffalo Sabres blog, and this is likely pointless. But if, by chance, that was not the case, this blog is about the Buffalo Sabres and about any other sports teams and situations and fiascos and circumstances about which I choose to write. I hope that I am not all that lame and that you are not bored reading this blog. Thank you for visiting, I suppose, though really, it feels silly saying that over the interwebz.

About Me

So, this is where I write about myself and this blog. I am just a college student who adores the Sabres. I am the oldest of five with four younger brothers, the youngest of whom is currently seven (next September, he will turn eight, and I probably won't update this). I'm currently in college in Indiana, but my heart is in Buffalo, and these months I spend away will be the longest amount of time I will spend away from there for the rest of my life. I am a biology/premed major. And that is about all you need to know about me. Mainly, I just love the Sabres.
Everything in this blog is my own personal opinion. Any pictures I use will likely be taken off NHL.com or somewhere else where there are professional-looking pictures. I will give credit to anybody whose individual pictures I use. And... that is about it.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Did some nice little stat look-ups last night, when I was bored and pissed at the Sabres (and procrastinating on a paperthatIfinishedat4:00inthemorning). Turns out that... Essentially, the boys are headed for last place in the NHL. Last place. In the NHL. Not last place in the division. Not twelfth place and four points out of the playoffs. Dead last.

See, since that little 6-0-2 start of theirs, they've managed to go a glorious 5-11-1. And they're a hockey team. Not a football team. That 5-11-1 record would have them on pace for... fifty-three points. The average number of points reached by last-place teams in the league over the past seven seasons is sixty. And this isn't just a little slump... This is serious. It's not just a three-game losing streak. It's a quarter of the season. This is who the Sabres are... Isn't it frightening? The extra points they got during that cute run to start the season would perhaps prevent them from finishing in last place; they'd probably buoy the team up to second-to-last.

First to worst in two seasons? Really? ...Really.

At this point, I am not sure that I want any changes. Drastically shaking up such a terrible team would accomplish making them better, sure... But making them better would still only leave them in eleventh or twelfth place, both out of the playoffs and with a mediocre draft position. Keeping the team the way it is would, more likely than not, lead to Tavares or Hedman, and I would be down with either, to say the least.

...What is there to do? I can't even bring myself to theorize any potential moves.

In other news, Lindy Ruff has perhaps not gone off the deep end. At first, I thought that maybe he desperately wants to be fired and not quit, so he's resorted to making stupid comments that blame the goaltender in a 2-1 loss (lulz). But then... No. No, no, no. This is Lindy Ruff we are talking about here. The man loves mind games. He adores psychologically messing with his players. Now, we've all seen how Miller plays when he is angry. He plays out of his mind, to put it simply. If he's got a shutout going, and some horrible call pisses him off, you know he's going to finish the game with 0 GA. When he lets in a goal at a terrible time and does that trademark freak out of his, it's a foregone conclusion that he won't be allowing any more for the rest of the night. The man is a maniac in net when he is angry.

Of course, Lindy Ruff would know this. He would also know that with the way his team is playing lately, it would take either a shutout or only one GA every night for them to win a single game. And, he'd know that Ryan Miller is simply not capable of that. His solution? Make a stupid comment to the media purely to piss Miller off and set him on a rampage of doom for the opposition.

All speculation, of course... But I rather like my little theory. It makes perfect sense, albeit it would indeed give more credibility to the fears that Ruff has lost all control. What think ye? Am I crazy?

All I know is, right now the only good thing about being a Buffalo sports fan is that Ted Rogers is no longer with us. (And, oh, how much having my fears of the Bills' being moved be taken away makes up for this crap we all have to put up with from our teams.)

I am so much more... calm... than how my mind really is right now. I perpetually want to flip out at the Sabres and strangle them all. Realizing that the season is all but lost is not a fun thing to do...

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I am allowed to be dramatic about this because he is the most consistently good and physical defenseman that the Sabres have. Well, really he is the only person in both categories, but it's more fun to delude ourselves into thinking we've got guys who sometimes show some spark, because that means the potential for that to be permanent is always there.

But, seriously, atrocious giveaways aside (and he's none of those this year), I've always loved the guy. He brings it every game. Always leads the team in hits and blocked shots. Likes to break up plays. I think he's quite underrated, actually... And now that he's out of the picture against the Panthers. Um. Perhaps the Sabres should just surrender and forfeit the game without even playing.

I suppose that this means Weber will be getting the call-up? He apparently has "medical issues," but according to Lindy Ruff they're minor enough that he might get the call regardless. I, for one, would love to see him up here for a few games again. It would be nice if they called up someone else, too; doesn't matter to me. Maybe Funk... He was the epitome of horrible, kinda, the last time, and I'd love to see if he's improved at all. I mean. When they called up Mancari here and there for like two games a season, every time I was left thinking, "I NEVER want to see him in a Sabres jersey EVER again!" He was slow as molasses, downright terrible defensively, and too nervous to do a single thing on offense. But this time, he's good to go. He's finally "developed," and I like his game. So, yeah. Seeing Funk again would be nice. Then next year, when Spacek and Numminen are both gone, Funk can be what Weber is now, and Butler can be Funk. Or something like that. Yeah.

Essentially, I have absolutely nothing worthwhile to say and am just rambling because I have nothing better to do at 2:00 in the morning, other than writing papers, and I'm sick of doing that.

This goes out to Patrick Kaleta:

Also. The reason I haven't commented on the Avery situation is that the only thing I can think is, "LOL Avery," and that is not very interesting.

Less than two weeks until the semester is over... Oh, yeah. I'm missing the game tomorrow night fo' sho'. Waaaay too many college shenanigans to get out of the way. [insert frowny face here]

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Let us all pause to celebr--mourn the death of one Rogers in Toronto. ....Now that we've done that, let's party, because there's now a significant chance that the Bills will actually stay in Buffalo following Ralph Wilson's death.I've never felt so... gleeful... over the death of another person. Is this wrong? I mean. I would not be happy one bit if he hadn't lived a full life, but he did. So. Um. As a Buffalo Bills fan, I cannot think of a single negative to this. I am slightly ecstatic at the moment, and I can't bring myself to feel the least bit guilty about it. Is that a bad thing? Please tell me, my lovely fellow Bills fans, that you feel the same... or at least that the thought occurred.

Yada yada yada blah blah blah. I will believe it when I see it on the ice. We've played this game before... And the results were not any better than the horribleness we'd become accustomed to. Not that that's Ruff's fault. No. We now all know that it's the players that are the driving force behind their awful play. That fact is simply inescapable after seeing how ridiculously wonderful they were to start off this season.

Jerks.

I'm such a cynic now... I can't help it. I can only act the way their play dictates, and lately it's been. Um. Yeah.

Also, we are trading Max to Toronto pronto for Schenn because I had a dream that we did, and my dreams are always 100% accurate. That's why Ales Kotalik is signing with the Senators over the offseason. lulz

And that'll be all. Why? I've got no tiempo to blogblogblo, when I have finals and papers and all that jazz. I can go to message boards and post for ten-minute sprees throughout the day, but that's about it. Ewww.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

What a boring game. I mean, it wasn't boring. We played the Habs. Canadiens games are never boring. It was, though, boring in the sense that it was a mediocre game on both sides, and usually, the Sabres and Habs bring their best to the table when they play each other. I'm used to back-and-forth, end-to-end, fastfastfast action, with scoring chances up the whazoo. (OK, so they don't bring their best defense to the table, but still.) All I got from this game was one big, "Meh."

Anyway, I thought that Lalime played very well aside from some rebound control issues (sounds familiar), and that 5-on-3 kill was... my favorite thing ever, possibly. I wanted to hug Lydman and Rivet after that, especially Lydman. In fact for the remainder of the game after that, I had to continually remind myself that the Sabres were, in fact, losing 3-2, and not winning 4-3 or 5-3. The Canadiens would almost score, and I'd think to myself, "It's OK if they score. We're still winning. They'll only maybe tie it. Oh. Wait." It was ridiculous... But that is just how awesome I thought that PK was. Four blocked shots is just disgusting any way you look at it.

Vanek was back to normal Vanek tonight after that poor showing last night. Not only did he score two goals, but he could have had five. That's what I'm used to seeing. I really desperately wanted him to get the hatty, though. For weeks, every time I've updated my Facebook status, I've thought, "Dude. I really want Vanek to score a hat trick against the Habs so I can change this thing to, 'et les TROIS buts de Thomas Vanek!' and laugh at Canadiens fans in general." When he got that second goal tonight, not gonna lie, I didn't think, "Vanek is so awesome!" or "I love Thomas Vanek!" or even "What a sweet sick nasty goal from Thomas Vanek!" No. I thought, "That much closer to having my dream status!" Pathetic of me? Yes. But I don't care.

I also have to hand it to the officials tonight, because they actually called things on the Canadiens, and I didn't see any blatant missed calls except for two, and they were one for each team, so that was a wash. Usually... Well, come on. We all know how officiating usually goes in Montreal. It's just a given. Expected. So I was pleasantly surprised tonight to see that they actually kinda sorta did their jobs and didn't ignore every single freakin' penalty on the God's-gift-to-mankind Montreal Canadiens. Well done, good sirs. Well done.

I don't have any major complaints about tonight, beyond my strong opinion that if the Sabres had been just a bit more physical (and by just a bit, I mean A LOT), they would have easily won this game, just because that's how you beat the Habs; and after quite a few games this year, we all know that they do, in fact, have it in them to hit other teams into oblivion.

And, now, to shower, pack, and get ready to head back to college tomorrow morning. I'm not looking forward to leaving. In my ideal world, I would make my college be right here, so I could have my friends and Buffalo together and never have to... choose. Because it's sad when I come home and go through a Tim Horton's drive thru and think, "Holy crap! That chick's got a ridiculously strong accent!" when really, it's not strong at all, just standard fare for a Buffalonian.

There has not been much to say. Beyond Miller's blog update and the ever-entertaining Tim Connolly Injury of the Month, what is there, when I do not watch games?

...Only, wait. I watched the game tonight. I had a feeling that the idea of watching the Sabres in glorious HD on our rather big television would be far too tempting to resist, and I was right.

The game was much better than what I had become accustomed to before I started my Buffalo sports hiatus ten days ago. They were beautifully physical. I greatly enjoyed all the hits and all the times that Craig Rivet and Paul Gaustad took exception to Jordan Staal's being near Ryan Miller. At least this time there was no spearing necessary.

I must complain about the officiating, though. I must. It is unavoidable. Why is it suddenly a penalty for Patrick Kaleta to hit and/or touch other players? The first penalty called on him tonight was ridiculous enough... He was given a roughing penalty essentially for allowing some dude on the Penguins to slowly push him to the ice. Honestly what in the world... I could have inflicted bodily harm on a referee right then and there, but then later on, when he was given a boarding penalty for hitting Satan? Oh, please. Please, please, please. Spare me. I was incredibly mad, which basically means that I just kept shaking my head and saying, "What? What? What?" And if I were there in person, I would have said something to the referee, more likely than not. I missed who the officials were because I missed the first two minutes of the game due to the fact that my mother was still in the room and had control of the remote at the time. I mean, there were plenty of ridiculous calls in the game and plenty of non-calls to go around, but those two calls on Kaleta I think sum the officiating up pretty well, better than any of the other individual calls of the game.

I adore Drew Stafford (FOR TONIGHT ONLY) and Paul Gaustad for scoring two goals each tonight. I thought that Vanek did not have a very good game... It would have been an excellent game if he were, say, Jochen Hecht, but for Vanek, I thought it was weak. I know that, up until ten days ago anyway, he was dominating every single game every time he stepped onto the ice, and now I expect more out of him. I am sure that he does, too.

There isn't really much else to say... I only hope that the Sabres can make it three in a row tomorrow night. I'll even likely watch the game again! I actually decided a couple of days ago that it was time for my little vacation from Buffalo sports to end, because I suddenly couldn't stand the thought of missing even one more game, when previously I was like, "This is great! No being stressed out over stupid sports all the time, and I have all the time in the world to hang out with my friends and with the guy I happen to maybe be in love with! SWEET!" Out of nowhere, that changed.... I went from YAYAYAYAY YEEESSSS THIS IS THE BEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD!!!!!!!! to I reeeeaaaallllyyyyy miss the Sabres and Bills... Just out of nowhere, like a light switch went off. It was nice to be reunited with one half of my loves tonight. The other half will unfortunately have to wait until next week, because this week I will be in a car somewhere in Ohio when the game starts.

My Bengals fan friend and I enjoy arguing over who is more tortured by our sports teams. I always win.

And, yeah, that's it. Just good to see a nice effort from the boys for my first game back from break. All my wounds are healed now. I won't hold a grudge... I promise.